Before delving into the Chanuka miracle story, we re-live what life was like for the Jewish people in Israel BEFORE there was any problems.
What was it like to go into Hashem's holy home, the Beis Hamikdash (Temple)?
What WILL it be like when the third Beis Hamikdash will be revealed?
All these questions and answers were learned and experienced in our Beis Hamikdash center!
Hashem's Home
Our own Home is a comfortable place where we can be ourselves and connect with the people we love. The children were each invited to draw what they love about their own home. This helped us understand how much Hashem loved "His home."
Max "I am making my garage and all my spooky toys!"
Experiencing life in the Beis Hamikdash.
Before the Kohen would do his service in the Beis Hamikdash they would wash their hands and feet by the Kiyor. (wash basin). A puppet helped the children learn how to use the different vessels.
There was a special Mitzvah called "Bikurim" that the Jewish people would observe during Temple times. They brought the first fruits from their trees, to give as a gift to the Kohanim.
Bela Riva picking the fruits and Dovi delivering it to the Beis Hamikdash.
After lighting the Menorah, Ava picking out a fruit treat that Elizabeth picked!
Kohanim lighting the Menorah!
Levi Yitzchak was thinking about the menorah in the magna tiles center and created flames with mini flashlights inside of them!
Lechem Hapanim
The 'show bread' was a stack of 12 challah's that miraculously stayed fresh all week long and the Kohanim would eat them on Shabbos.
Appreciating how the oil was made by taking a look at real olive branches and olives. It took eight days to make the special olive oil for the Menorah.
Olive oil painting!
Experimenting with water colors and oil and watching the results on their jug.
The Chanuka story
With all this love and excitement towards the Beis Hamikdash, it was now time to introduce the Chanukah story. King Antiyochus came to our class and announced some very unkind rules about not thinking our Torah is so special, not keeping Shabbos or giving baby boys a bris.
The little children back then, came up with a creative idea to hide their Torahs and take out dreidels when the soldiers came to check on them! We acted this out in our class.
Dovi "We wont be scared! Hashem is with us!" Levi, proudly showing his dreidel.
Be Brave like a Macabee!
If that wasn't enough, the King decided to defile and make a mess of the Holy Beis Hamikdash! The children were devastated. They now FULLY understood how horrible this was after being in the Beis Hamikdash center and learning how special it was to the Jewish people!
Yehuda, one of the special Jewish people during the Chanuka story quickly came out and told them we must stay BRAVE! We must all become Macabees and help fix and clean the Beis Hamikdash!
Each of the children got a special job to help put our Beis Hamikdash center back up and clean.
While cleaning up we noticed all the oil jugs sealed were broken! How will they light the Menorah?
They found one tiny jug and the children knew exactly how many days it lasted, 8 days! Enough time for them to make new olive oil for the Menorah!
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The puppet giving them a pep talk before going in. "you are so
strong and brave...
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Happy 4th Birthday Hannah!
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